Home Again
by SusanCharmed
Summary: Set six years after Centennial Charmed. Cole returnes to SF, he wants to move on with his life and for that he needs to see Phoebe for the last time, but who will open the door when he rings at manor? R
1. Who Are You?

Disclaimer: I do not own Charmed and any of the characters.

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He opened his eyes and found himself standing in front of the house he knew too well, the house he'd never wanted to see again. Sometimes he really hated the twisted games the fate was playing with him. Not only 'it' didn't let him end his miserable life, but 'it' took him there, to the last place in the world he wanted to visit.

As he was standing there and looking at the old pink manor that used to be his home a long time ago, he understood. He knew he had to do it. He was sure it would be hard, but he had to face them again, to face the people that totally changed his life, the people that used to be his family. It was the only way to leave the past that was hunting him in his dreams and finally move on.

Slowly, he came closer to the door. He closed his eyes and took a deep breathe. Nine years passed since he was standing there for the first time, but he could remember it as if it happened the day before. In that time, he would be a mighty demon, a half-breed known as Belthazor prepared to kill all occupants of that house. But one of them changed his plans and mainly, she changed him. 'She', the thought of her made him smile. 'She' turned his world upside down and awoke his human side. He became Cole Turner that got rid of Belthazor and he knew, it was the best thing that had ever happened to him.

Finally, he press the doorbell and in a while he heard somebody yelling "I got it!"

The door opened and there was a little boy with the dark hair and blue eyes staring at him.

"Can I help you?" The boy asked. Cole knelt to be at the same level as the boy and smiled.

"Hi, buddy, is Phoebe here?" The boy raised an eyebrow and looked at him suspiciously.

"Who's asking?" Cole had to laugh, the kid was very cute. But when he gave him the familiar 'shut up' look Cole stopped.

"You're sure a Halliwell" Cole said more to himself, but the boy heard it and nodded.

"I'm Ben" The boy informed him.

"That's very nice name, my father was Ben too." Cole smiled, he liked that child "How old are you?"

"Five" Ben said and showed Cole his hand with all finger lifted "But you didn't tell me who you are"

"Right. I'm Cole, Cole Turner. Nice to meet you Ben." Ben didn't hear the last part, he backed and was gazing at Cole in shock.

"What's wrong?" Cole was surprised with Ben's reaction.

"You... you're my daddy?" Ben finally managed to say and it was now Cole's turn to be shocked.

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"What... how... why do you think I'm your dad?" Cole said a little too loud, angrily enough to scare Ben who was about to cry.

"No, no, no, just don't cry, ok?" Cole didn't know how to calm a kid, so he did first thing he could think of. He extracted ten dollars from his pocket and gave it to Ben. Suddenly, a big grin appeared on Ben's face.

"Good" Cole breathed a sigh of relief. "Now, would you tell me why do you think I'm your dad?" He asked softly.

"My mommy told me your name and gave me this..." Ben tried to open his medallion he had on chain, but without any success. Cole smiled at him and wave his hand to magically help him open it.

"She gave me this so I can see her or my daddy whenever I want" Ben showed Cole two pictures that were inside his medallion. One of them was Phoebe's and the second was Cole's. Cole stared at the pictures and then at Ben in disbelief.

"Ben, who are you talking to?" A voice came from behind Ben. He and Cole looked at the person who was speaking, it was Phoebe.

"I told you not to talk to..." When Phoebe sighted Cole, she dropped the cup of tea she was holding and it broke into many pieces "... strangers"

"Cole..." when she looked into his amazing eyes, she felt her heart was like the cup she'd been holding a while ago... broken

"Ben, go watch TV with your cousins" She said not taking her eyes from Cole.

She and Cole went to the kitchen to talk.

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"You're supposed to be death! How is it possible you're still alive? Why can't you leave us? What makes you come here after six years? What do you think...?" Phoebe was yelling but Cole didn't listen.

"Why?" He asked softly.

"Excuse me?" Phoebe didn't know what was he talking about.

"Why did you tell him I'm his father?" Cole asked more firmly.

"Because you... you are." She was looking at the floor.

"No! It's not possible. We... we lost our baby, you weren't pregnant when I came back from Wasteland" Cole remembered how happy he was when he first found out Phoebe was pregnant and how heartbroken when she told him their baby was gone.

"It wasn't our baby, it was Source's, but Ben is ours. We conceived him after your return" She said still looking at the floor.

"How can you be so cruel? To me, to Ben... Why are you lying to him?" A tear escaped his eye.

"Didn't you listen?! He's yours!" Phoebe was now yelling.

"I don't remember us sleeping together, how could we conceive him?" Cole wanted to believe her, but it was impossible.

"You don't remember because I made sure you wouldn't" Phoebe almost whispered "It happened one night after your return from Wasteland. I was drunk and somehow appeared at your penthouse, I didn't know what I was doing. I remember us kissing and making love. When I woke up I regretted everything and I didn't want you to find out what happened, so I put a spell on you." Cole was looking at her with disgust, but was shaking with his head.

"You're lying, I don't believe you a word. He's not my son!" He yelled and more tears escaped his eyes. As much as he wished Ben was his, he didn't believe it.

"Don't be dumb. He is your son!" She yelled too.

"He's not my son! He can't be! Don't you understand! He is not my son!" The tears were running down his cheeks. Cole was still yelling when he noticed Ben standing in the door. He was crying and holding his ears not to hear his parents' altercation.

"Ben?" Cole said softly and Phoebe noticed him too. She wanted to go to him but he shimmered away.

"He can shimmer?" Cole didn't believe his eyes.

"Of course he can, he is your son, you idiot!" With that she ran out of the kitchen.


	2. In The Underworld

Disclaimer: I do not own Charmed and any of the characters

Thank you for all your reviews, guys... I hope you will like this chapter

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"Ben!" Phoebe was looking for Ben everywhere at the manor but couldn't find him.

"Wyatt!" She entered the kitchen, panic written all over her face.

"Wyatt, sweetie, please tell me you can sense him" Phoebe pleaded. Wyatt closed his eyes and tried his best to focus on his cousin.

"I'm sorry aunt Phoebe, I can't find him, he has to be in the Underworld. But don't worry, you know this isn't the first time he's there and I feel he's all right." Wyatt wanted to reassure his aunt.

"Of course he's alright, nothing would happened to my baby or would? No, no, he has to be fine, my poor baby. What am I going to do? I have to call Leo and Piper..." She was lost in her thoughts, mumbling and totally ignoring Cole and Wyatt.

"Phoebe? Phoebe!" Cole had to yell to attract her attention. When she finally turned to him, he looked deep in her eyes.

"Don't worry, I'll get him, he'll be safe" And with this he'd shimmered away, before Phoebe could object.

"I know it's not the right time to ask questions right now, but who was that man? He can shimmer, so isn't he a demon?" Wyatt asked wondering why would Phoebe let a demon in the manor and didn't vanquish him.

"I don't know what he's now. He used to be a half-demon, half-human, then he was only human, then the Source of All Evil, then we vanquished him, then he came back and was invincible, but created an alternate world where we vanquished him again and I've thought he's dead and today I found out he's not. And by the way his name is Cole Turner and he's Ben's father." Phoebe explained staring into the space, at nothing in particular, then she turned to Wyatt "Satisfied with the answer?" She went to the living room, leaving her very confused nephew behind her.

---------The Underworld---------

Ben was sitting in one of the empty caves, his wet cheeks indicated he had been crying. He was scared. Although he was part demon, he'd never liked Underworld. Everything was so unlovely and ugly, he didn't understand how could somebody choose to live there instead of a cozy house. But he was there, because no member of his family could track him there and take him home, he needed time to think.

"Here you are!" Ben heard a husky voice and froze in fear. He wished it was only a stupid low-level demon that could be handled easily, because even if he was very powerful, he still didn't have full control over his powers. He prepared a fireball in his hand and wanted to throw it at the demon when he realised it was Cole.

"Wow, you are only five and you are already able to conjure a fireball" Cole was amazed.

"What do you want? Go away!" Ben tried to sound cold, although he was glad it wasn't any demon, or at least demon who would hurt him.

"Sorry, I can't. I promised your mom I'd take you home"

"Then you were lying, I'm not going anywhere." Ben didn't want to go home, not at all with the man who repudiates his fatherhood. Cole didn't try to convince Ben. He knew that if Ben was at least half as stubborn as Phoebe, it would be only waste of time. And he'd already rejected the possibility of forcing Ben to go with him.

"So you're staying?" Ben nodded. "Then I think I should stay too, can I? You know, such a little boy as you are shouldn't be in such a place as the Underworld is, especially not all alone." Cole tried to rationalize.

"We live in a free country, you can do whatever you want." Ben mumbled without looking at Cole. Cole sat beside Ben and smiled proudly on his son.

It had passed half an hour since the last time one of them spoke and Cole decided it was the right time to broke the silence.

"Still don't want to go home?" He asked. Ben only shook his head. "Ok, but you know, I hate silence so maybe you could tell me something about you for example who was the blond boy, Wyatt, I think." Cole was really surprised when Ben started to talk without hesitation, but on the other side he was Phoebe's son and she rarely hadn't availed the opportunity to talk.

After another hour Cole knew a lot of new things about Halliwell's family, from Wyatt and Chris being Piper and Leo's sons to Paige moving to Richard's and marrying him. Ben told him a few stories about his and his cousin's troubles and they both laughed. If they weren't in the Underworld you could've said they were having a great time together.

Cole was finishing the story how he met Phoebe when Ben cut him off.

"Was I a bad boy?" He finally asked the question that had been bothering him since he left the manor.

"What? What makes you think something like that?" Cole was shocked Ben asked him such a question.

"I heard you..." A few tears ran down Ben's cheeks "I heard you when you told mom I'm not your son, I heard everything, you don't want me. And you don't want me because I was a bad boy." Cole's heart was breaking, he was mentally kicking his ass for upsetting his son so much.

"Ben... Ben look me in the eyes." Cole wiped Ben's cheeks with his thumb "Ben, I didn't mean a word I said your mom. I'm so sorry you heard it, I've never meant to upset you. Honestly, I was just shocked. I didn't know I have a son, I had to go away before your mom could tell me she was pregnant, so I've never found out... till today. Believe me, if I knew it I would've never left you. You sure aren't a bad boy, I think you're the best kid I've ever met. You should know that I'm very proud of you, I would never think I could have such a great son." Cole said softly and smiled at Ben.

"Really?" Ben asked shyly.

"Really." Cole nodded and tousled Ben's hair. Ben hesitated a while, but then hugged his dad. Cole held him tight and the tears of happiness were running down his cheeks.

"We should go home, your mom has to be scared to death, she hasn't known anything about you since you left." Cole broke the embrace.

"Ok, but could we have the ice cream first?" Ben suggested.

"What? I don't think your mom would like it if she knew you had an ice cream before dinner."

"She won't know about it, it will be our little secret" Ben begged.

"I don't know..." Ben knew he could convince Cole, so he looked at him with his best puppy eyes.

"Daddy please." And Cole really couldn't resist. He took Ben's hand and shimmered out of the cave.


	3. Demon Attack

Disclaimer: I do not own Charmed and any of the characters.

I love your reviews...

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It had been almost three hours since Cole's left to the Underworld. Phoebe was sitting in the sunroom, watching her two nephews and trying to convince herself that her demonic ex-husband was the right person to find her son and bring him back home. Suddenly she heard a great crash coming from the living room. She was going to tell Wyatt to rise his protective shield around him and his brother, but a husky voice saying something like "that damned table wasn't there before" and child's laugh stopped her. She almost jumped for joy when Ben and Cole entered the sunroom.

"Mommy!" Ben ran to her and hugged her.

"Are you alright, baby?" She looked at him with concern. When he nodded she embraced him again. After they parted she turned to Cole.

"Where have you two been?!" She asked, anger evident in her voice. "I've been scared to death! You should have been here a long time..." Phoebe was pissed at Cole, she was saying something about him being supposed to take Ben home right after he found him, but Cole didn't listen to her. Instead, he watched two boys, who were sitting on the floor, playing with some kind of slot racing. He knew the older boy with blond hair was Wyatt and from what Ben had told him he was sure that the little brown-haired boy was Chris. Cole knew how it felt to grow all alone, so he was glad Ben had cousins of his age he could play with. He was thinking how much the boys resembled Piper and Leo when somebody hit him in the arm and brought him back to reality.

"Are you listening to me?" Phoebe asked him. She was still pissed at him, but the confused look he gave her made her smile. When Cole noted Phoebe's smile he started to feel uncomfortable, he knew he wasn't able to get over her but he'd hoped after six years without her he wouldn't love her so much as he'd used to. Unfortunately, he'd been wrong.

"I... I think... I should be going." He desperately needed to go away, he didn't know if he'd be able to stay with Phoebe and not to wrap his hands around her and kiss her. He was prepared to shimmer away when Ben cut him off.

"You're not staying with me?" It was an innocent question, but broke Cole's heart. He knew that if he'd leave now, he wouldn't see Ben again, Phoebe's family would never let him. He knelt, so he was at the same level as Ben.

"You know buddy, I really have to go." Ben nodded, but asked another question.

"Will you come tomorrow?" Ben liked his father and wanted to spend some time with him.

"I don't think I can make it tomorrow."

"And the day after tomorrow? We can go to zoo." Ben exclaimed. Cole didn't answer, he just hugged Ben, trying to suppress the tears that were threatening to fall.

"Why don't you stay for dinner?" Phoebe suddenly suggested.

"Excuse me..." Cole wasn't sure if he really heard it or if it was just his imagination.

"But you know, we'll have only pizza, because I didn't have the time to prepare something." Cole stared at her, slowly recovering from the shock.

"I don't think it's a good idea." He finally said.

"Daddy please" Ben begged. Cole took a deep breath.

"Fine, I'll stay." He gave up.

"Ben, baby, go play with your cousins. I need to talk to your dad." Phoebe said and led Cole to the living room.

"Why have you came here?" She snapped at Cole when she was sure the kids couldn't hear them.

"Sorry?" Cole didn't expect that question.

"Why are you here... after 6 years?" Phoebe asked again, a little calmer. Cole took a deep breathe before speaking.

"I know it wasn't the brightest idea I've ever had, but I needed to see you again. I wanted to move on with my life and for that I needed to talk to you for the last time. I wanted to know if it's possible you'd forgive me what I did to you. I wanted you to know I've never meant to hurt you or your family..." He wanted to continue but Phoebe cut him off.

"But six years?" Cole looked straight in her eyes.

"I wasn't able to come sooner. I didn't think I'd control myself while being with you. I needed to calm down. I know that six years might be long time but not for me. Phoebe, I... I..." he wanted to tell her how much he still loved her but he couldn't "I'd better go before I say something you don't want to hear." He needed to leave but Phoebe grabbed his hand.

"Wait, you can't leave now. What about Ben? He was so happy when you said you'd stay for the dinner."

"Tell him I'm a bastard that don't keeps promises, it doesn't matter to me" Cole said coldly.

"What? Why? I thought you liked him." Phoebe was surprised by Cole's sudden coldness.

"Of course I like him... I love him" Cole's voice softened "He's beautiful, sweet and so smart... he's just perfect."

"You're not making any sense, Cole. If that what you said is true, why do you want to leave?"

"Because I don't want him to get hurt."

"I don't understand."

"Right, you don't understand" Cole was angry "have you already forgotten your family. I don't want to get close to Ben and then be kicked out of his life by your precious sisters because they think I'm some freaking demon. Or worse, to be vanquished by you, again."

"Cole..."

"What? You're gonna say it won't happen?" He said wryly "You know I thought it before the glorious Charmed Ones vanquished me for the first time. Yeah, and I hoped so even the second time but you threw the vial with potion at me.

So don't get me wrong when I'd say I don't believe you a damned word." Cole tried to be as cool as possible but Phoebe saw the pain in his eyes.

"Cole" she placed her hand on his cheek but he pulled away "I know you won't believe me when I say I don't want to hurt you, but you have to believe me that I would never hurt my son... our son"

"I can't" A single tear rolled down his cheek.

"You can. Look, I know that you don't want to be here, but I can't let you go and then watch Ben growing up without a father when he could be with him. I just don't want him to go through what I did when dad abandoned me and my sisters. He doesn't deserve it, nobody does." Cole didn't say anything. He was thinking about the day his mother killed his father and what it meant to him. He slowly nodded and Phoebe knew he'd stay. Suddenly, the doorbell rang.

"Our dinner" Phoebe exclaimed and wiped Cole's wet cheeks "You'll get boys and I'll get pizza." She ordered and went open the door.

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An hour later kids were watching the cartoons on TV and Phoebe was telling Cole what's happened since the 'incident' in alternate world six years ago. She told him about big Chris from the future (a/n just imagine the 6th season with two babies instead of one), about Paige and Richard, everything about Ben, his cousins and their parents.

"... and now Leo is our Whitelighter again."

"Speaking of the angel and his witch, where are they?" Cole asked, not really interested.

"They wanted to spend some time alone so they orbed to Paris and I'm baby-sitting" She wanted to continue but was cut off by ten demons shimmering in the manor.

"What the hell..." Cole was throwing energy ball after energy ball, but for every one demon he vanquished two another appeared.

"Get the kids out of here!" He yelled at Phoebe but she didn't pay any attention to him because she was occupied by kicking the demons' asses, as well. Boys knew they should orb/shimmer to their aunt Paige but when they tried it wasn't working, they were still in the living room. Wyatt rose his shield to protect the three of them but was too late. Two demons shimmered in front of them and stabbed Ben and Chris in the stomach. Suddenly, all the demons disappeared. When Wyatt realised what's happened to his little brother and cousin, he did the only thing he could think on.

"Daddy!" He yelled. Leo appeared immediately. When he saw the two boys lying on the floor and bleeding he ran to them. He told Wyatt to try to heal Ben and he tried to heal Chris but nothing happened. He tried again, nothing.

"No Chris, please not again." Leo cried, he still couldn't heal him and all the images of big Chris dying invaded his mind. Wyatt wasn't able to heal Ben, too.

"What's wrong, Leo?" Leo only now noticed Cole who was supposed to be death, but it wasn't the right time to ask questions about him.

"I... I don't know, I can't heal him." He tried again and again but it didn't help. He helped Wyatt with Ben but it didn't work. After a few minutes there was nothing left to heal, only two lifeless bodies. They were all crying but Cole realised there was still a chance. Ignoring the look Phoebe gave him when he was dragging her away of Ben, he knelt to him put his hands on Ben's chest and started whispering an ancient spell. Abruptly, he stopped.

"Damn it, Turner! Why do you always have to be the hero." He told himself. He couldn't bear the look at Leo, he knew Leo'd already lost one Chris and this had to kill him inside. Cole knew, Leo wouldn't leave Chris voluntarily, so he asked Wyatt to orb his dad to Phoebe. When he did it, Cole knelt between Ben and Chris and put one hand on Ben's and the other on Chris's chest.

"Cole" Leo realised what Cole was doing "two lives at once, you're gonna kill yourself" he said slowly, wiping the tears from his cheeks and embracing Wyatt.

"Better me than them." Cole gave Leo a bitter smile "promise me you'll take care of them" Leo knew Cole was talking about Ben and Phoebe.

"I promise... And Cole, thanks" Cole just nodded and then looked at Ben.

"I'll always love you and be watching you" He whispered. Cole didn't look at Phoebe, he wasn't able to say good bye to her. He took last deep breathe and repeated the ancient spell.

"What is he doing?" Phoebe asked Leo silently.

"He's giving them his life energy. Only the beings that cheated the death at least two times can do that. But he's able to save only one life and survive. So, he's sacrificing his own life to save the both boys." Phoebe looked at Leo in disbelief but knew everything he said was true.

After Cole said the spell for the fifth time the boys' wounds healed and they started to stir. When they finally opened their eyes, Cole closed his and fell on the floor unconscious.


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